I liked the teenager reference on the bottle; and I love that Stone is growing! So Kudos! to Greg and Stone for 13 years of great beers!

That said, I wasn't particularly impressed with this one. Don't get me wrong, it's a good, decent American Strong Ale, and it's well-rounded (not necessarily a Stone trait - wink -). But it's also not too unlike a lot of their other beers. I guess it just doesn't stand out for me. If you put this in an Arrogant Bastard bottle and handed it to me I'd probably believe it was. Sure it's probably a little bit stronger, maybe a bit more fruity, and maybe a bit more hoppy (probably not), but it's similar. And this is an anniversary beer. ...I guess I was just expecting more.

So...Appearance: Hazy ruby-accented almost-chestnut-brown body beneath a frothy head of light tan that holds well and leaves great lacing behind.

Flavor: Upfront solid combination of piney/spicy/grassy/leafy hops and biscuity but dark-edged, deeply caramelish maltiness. It's on the cusp of burnt sugar and roastiness. It warms across the middle and the yeasty fruitiness rises, along with grassy/piney hops. The bracing bitterness actually steps in right at the offset, but rises to its full height at the middle. From there the malts start to fade in the swallow and finish, but the bitterness and hop flavors remains. It ends very dry, but piney/grassy, and long-lingering with a hint of roastiness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-full bodied with a bubbly carbonation.

Drinkability: As far as American strong ales go, it's pretty much on par. English strong ales tend to be more malty and soft, while Americans rev it up a bit, which can lead to 'hop-mouth' and sensory deprivation (no more perfectly exemplified than Stone's very own Ruination, although that's an IPA and not a strong ale - same idea). It's got lots of malt and bitterness and hoppiness and fruitiness, and yet it never really overwhelms. In fact, the yeasty fruitiness is left behind as the final note to it, which is interesting. And although you can feel the strength of it, the alcohol never really shows any more than it's supposed to in flexing its muscles. But at the same time, it lacks depth and complexity. So I don't know. I'll just go with 'it's pretty drinkable', how's that?

A: The beer is a dark reddish brown color, with a large off-white head that fades very slowly and leaves a very thick lace on the glass.

S: The aroma contains caramelized malts, some citrus and a lot of hops.

T: The taste starts with a strong burst of floral hops that is quickly followed by a nice compliment of caramel & citrus sweetness and some roasted malts, creating a very nice balance. The after-taste is hoppy and sweet.

M: Very crisp and very smooth, medium body, medium carbonation, finish is clean and dry.

D: Very tasty, goes down quite easily, not too filling, strong kick, excellent representation of the imperial red IPA style, this is a great high-octane beer to drink for an entire evening.

Pours a deep clear amber, with 2 big tight fingers of light tan colored foam. Creamy half finger of froth stays rich, with a massive flareup that just drenches the sides with foam that hangs in thick swathes. The aroma is VERY West Coast smelling, with a ton of floral notes, spice, pine cones, and tropical citrus. Underneath lies the malts, which add a meaty layer of smoke, roast, and toasted caramel. As this warms, it's just about neck and neck with the hops. Bit of beefy warmth gives this a heavier feel in the nose.

The hops are resinous and biting in the taste, with an aggressive spicy bitterness and citric character that spreads out in the mouth. Balance comes courtesy of a stickily sweet backbone of toffee and darker roasted malts. Smoky notes lend the profile both tang and a toasty feel, combining with the spicy bitterness to really make for quite the intense finish here. The malts are so assertive in fact, they actually threaten to overtake the robust hop character at times, they are that strong. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, with a creamy firmness to it that keeps things moving. However, this seem just a bit too light in spots, especially considering the big flavors and alcohol presence. The bigger ABV here doesn't always work with the big roasty feel of the malts as well (especially as this hits room temp), cutting down the drinkibility for me.

While certainly not a bad Imperial Red style beer or anything, this was definitely a step down from some of the other recent Anniversary offerings. Despite the awesome hop character, the overpowering dark malt component to this just didn't blow me away in the end. Once bottle was more than enough for this year.

Look I know Stone is that ballsy hit you over the head with hop bitterness, fuck those fizzy yellow beer type of brewers but how extreme can you get. Is this brewing niche going to both make and break them. I now there's enough breweries out there making standard styles, but the more and more extreme brews I try from these guys get less exciting except for a handful of exceptions. This was another pretty big disappointment, I have been drinking their Anniversary series since the 6th year (a baltic porter) and it got progressively better until the climax was reached in the 10th Anniv. with that awesome DIPA. However since the 11th (a black west coast IPA) that they have since fixed the problems and released as Sublimely Self Righteous Ale. I've not been blown away by their specialty releases including the Vertical Epics as well. Anyway enought of my rant here's this beer.

Appears a slightly clouded mildly opaque deep mahgany amber red hue, with a large lightly colored beige head. Large bubbles form and head retention is excellent, with specks of yeast sediment suspended within my chalice.

Aroma has a muddled layer of hops and malt big pine grapefruit and earthy hops plow through the deep amber roasted caramelized malt profile. A bit of onion and spicy garlic traits seem out of place within the hop profile as well. Some crystal malt is detected with a bit of booziness throughout each whiff.

Flavor has an acrid stale coffee bitterness in the roasted malt with the rest of the specialty malts not really making an effect on the palate. Pure hop bitterness and deranged uninspired hop flavors prowl around on the palate. A very unenjoyable drinking experience that I recently repeated trying to give this brew a second chance. To now avail I find this one hard to enjoy and finish even with friends sharing these bombers.

Mouthfeel that is left behind by the dry leafy, earthy, grapefruit peel is the morning after drinking at a brewfest hangover mouthfeel after having a couple cigars with your brews. Medium bodied carbonation no complaints nothing exciting hop oils are a bit resinous which only makes the pure bitterness camp out on the palate.

Drinkability overall is sad, and an experience I probably won't have again no direction for this over hopped unbalanced Anniversary brew by one of the pioneers of the extreme brewing revolution. This one will make you wanna grab a fizzy yellow beer maybe even a PBR.

I had this on tap at Brass Rail in Campbelltown, PA last night. Served in a pint, 12oz pour.

A - Deep bronze w/ 3/4 inch tan cap. Mildly hazy and fiery crimson when held to the light. The bead is fin and sublte lace is deposited.

S - An instensely pungent citrus hop aroma, just soaked in juice odor w/ a huge grapefruit nose. Pine adds something more earthy to the nose, the ripe orange scents are obvious even several inches away from the ale

T - Really sweet + fruity taste of grapefruit w/ hints of pine cone and an almost salty bitterness like sucking the essence from a hop leaf after the malt subsides. The taste is salty w/ acidity hitting the sides of the tongue at the back w/ spicy hop flavor. A nice amber malt creaminess in the taste is usurped by the sharp, stinging( again salty) brine at the end which calls you back to taste again. The mix of sweet and then heat is very flavorful and has a nice contrast

D - The taste is overwhelming at times, not tame in any way. It takes 'Imperial Red' to a whole 'nother level. Almost to hoppy for its own good, could use a little age IMO before it will be truly incredible drinkability wise. The bitterness is almost like salt off a pretzel at times. I can't wait to taste this in the bottle maybe a month from now.

MF: Chewy as hell with low carbonation, but turns watery as it warms skews too hoppy for the style for me at the same time...

Drinks a bit slow with uber hoppyness & some boozeyness slowing me down.. Still, this is what Stone is about IMO, in your face beers that you may not always love, but more hits than duds by a long shot. Stone, please come to Oklahoma, Kansas or Mizzou please!! This one is off base to me but would happily buy if looking for a hop fix

Odor of alcohol and -- does anyone remember how Merthiolate smelled? Or is it moth balls? Definitely not an "aroma." Oddly harsh and sharply acidic. Woody and resiny hop flavors. Malt appears and disappears, and why do I think of Milk Duds?

Very educational, and the intense red-copper-amber color is worth seeing. But I'll be looking for something bland to mix the rest of the 22 oz with. Usual Stone printed-on-bottle label says it was bottled in 2009 and "Do not cellar - enjoy in 2009." You have been warned.

Thanks to Dave (d0b) for ordering one of these bad boys for me. Served in my Pisgah pint glass. The first hoppy Stone Anniversary beer that I've gotten to try fresh.

A - Two fingers of creamy-looking tan foam that dissipates pretty slowly - not a ton of lace is left behind, just a few isolated patches. Dark hazy amber red-brown body. This is far beyond amber ales like Nugget Nectar and somehow exudes strength and intensity.

S - Hops galore in this one - big grapefruit citrus smell with a touch of pine and earth in there. Well-balanced with light caramel and burnt sugar malts. A touch of the 9.5% ABV peeks out, but it's not harsh. The smell is huge, but I wish there was a bit more depth to it.

T - The taste is more malt heavy, with a copious amount of bread and grain, a touch of cocoa, some spicy esters, and some sweet citrus flavors at the back end. The taste ends very bitter and lingers for quite a while - this is definitely a palate-bruiser.

M - Big thick body that supports the ABV well. Moderate carbonation with a bit of zing to it. Chewy, but smooth, with tons of oil and resin left behind after swallowing. There's a bit of warmth that starts to show in my throat after a few sips. It's pretty much exactly what I want from this style.

D - This is an intense brew, and I'm beginning to regret opening the bomber on my own. I'll persevere of course, but I think this is a beer for sharing. The bitterness is intense and the ABV higher, so this certainly isn't for sessions, but it's a lovely treat all the same.

The smell - I love it! -- Hoppy hoppy! Citrus and pine strong, with a hint of wet tobacco leaf, though with a tofee backing.

It has a barleywine character, though with strong hop presence. Resiny/piney, a bit sticky, with wet tobacco and some grapefruit. It has a sweet caramel/toffee backing. Alcohol certainly shows, perhaps even to the point of my guessing a tad higher abv if I didn't know better. But, wouldn't want to age because the hop presence really works too nicely for it to mellow. Sweetness comes through, though with an herbal/aspirin-ish dry bitter finish.

It hits full-bodied, and a bit syrupy, though carbonation is just enough to cut through stickiness.

It's a "big" beer and a very nice one at that! Worth the slap of booziness! Happy 13th Stone!

Strong crystal malt aroma with a great spicy hop kick. There's a notable yeast smell that gives it a essence of a great homebrew.

Holy hops, Batman. Didn't detect this in the smell. This is an exceptionally bitter beer. The swallow and aftertaste is strictly a hop bomb. The initial flavor has a touch of the malt that I detected in the nose. Rich body with light carbonation--this gives it a rich consistency without the sweetness of some beers.

The beer pours a dark red/brown color with a thick frothy tan head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is great! It has a really nice hop aroma as well as a solid malt nose that boasts of crystal, roasted, and bisquit malts. It appears to be quite balanced. The taste is great as well. It's extremely bitter with loads of hop character up front as well as residual bitterness in the finish. The malts are present and provide a solid base, but the hops are the dominate taste. It's got excellent bisquity notes along with a subtle roasted character. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a full bodied beer with adequate carbonation. This is a tastey Imperial red. I'm loving the hop character as well as the malt contribution.

Pours dark reddish brown with a tan head. The aroma is hop forward, with a lot of piney, resinous hops as well as some alcohol. The flavor follows the aroma with piney hops and alcohol. as well as some darker malts. There is some spiciness in the flavor and it is somewhat boozy. Medium mouthfeel and carbonation. Very good beer, although I think I preferred it when it was fresh as opposed to drinking it with six months age on it.

A soft pour still nets me an almost three-finger thick, lightly browned, amber-tan colored head. The beer is a dark, amber-red color with brown notes to it that when held up to the light shows a brilliantly clear, deep ruby hue. The aroma is sticky with candied hop notes; lychee, candied orange zest, sugar coated pine and spruce tips are followed & boosted by caramelized crystal malt flavors, toasted (almost roasted even) malt and a nice cracker / biscuit grain note towards the finish. Other, more herbal hop notes lend an almost dank, hemp-oil like character and perhaps a touch of green onion / garlic chive towards the finish. After a bit I start to notice a touch of cinnamon like hop character that mixes in with the sweet citrus notes. The nose of this beer is definitely quite hoppy, though given the hop-talk from the brewer I was actually expecting this to jump out of the glass with an expressive hop character. It doesn't quite do that, though it certainly is a hop focused beer, but there is a solid, underlying malt contribution here; it is overwhelmed by the hops in the aroma, but you can tell this beer has a lot of malt richness to it as well.

Somewhat creamy textured and full in the body, the beer still has quite a bit of a prickly carbonation; it would probably be better without quite so much carbonation. There is enough hop character here that the overall beer effect seems dry. There is some residual malt sugars here, even a substantial crystal malt sweetness, it just isn't that noticeable because of all the raw hop character. The beer finishes with a lingering, bracing bitterness that really stays on the palate long after the beer has left my mouth and even has some raw, green-hop astringency. Herbal hops are apparent as the beer first hits my tongue. There is also a solid fruity-hop character here, it just clearly plays second fiddle to the herbal hop notes. Hop notes of grapefruit zest, tangerine, lychee and kumquat are joined by notes green raw hop notes (that are almost a bit vegetal at times), substantial peppery pine notes, Towards the finish, after it loses the fruit notes, the hop character get piquant with notes of menthol, pine, peppery herbs and a resinous hop character that just fills the palate. The finish has some warm, almost hot alcohol character to it that accentuates the biting hop character.

I like that the nose strikes a decent balance between citrus hop notes, more dank, herbal notes and with a subtle, but somehow substantial malt character as a backbone to the nose. This is definitely a sipping brew, with all it malt character and alcoholic strength, not to mention the aggressive hop character. Stone puts this as part of the nebulous Imperial / Double Red style of beer. To my taste it is a cross between a rich, malty and thick Barleywine and a hopped up Double IPA. This is an unbalanced hoppy beer for sure, but it still needs some balance to it; the hop character can get a bit too harsh here at times and the hot alcohol doesn't help things. Still not a bad beer, just could use a bit more finesse and perhaps just a month or two of age to mellow and better integrate the harsh notes; I'll have to get another bottle of this to do just that.